Chocolate + Coffee : Health Food?

Neither chocolate nor coffee is considered particularly healthy, but many recent studies support that both coffee and chocolate can actually be very beneficial to your health. Why has scientific opinion changed on these common treats?

Drinking your coffee with milk and sugar turns coffee from a calorie-free antioxidant drink to a sugar-filled sweet treat. Because of this, the benefits of coffee have been obscured for years! In fact, many scientists now say that drinking black coffee is very good for you- and is perhaps the best way to get all the health benefits of coffee. Black coffee (up to two cups a day) has antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic effects in the human body. Coffee drinking is even linked to lower mortality, obesity, and depression rates, while other promising research suggests that coffee consumption can even postpone the onset of neurodegenerative disorders like MS, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

Coffee is good for you, but chocolate is truly a superfood. Chocolate’s fatty acids modify LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and its many polyphenols increase HDL (“good”) cholesterol when consumed regularly, and the benefits increase as chocolate gets darker. Regular dark chocolate consumption also results in lowered blood pressure, leading to decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Pure cacao is also one of the strongest antioxidants in the world, ahead of acai and blueberries, and is high in omega-6 fatty acids, like those found in olive oil. Chocolate is also a huge mood booster, and regular dark chocolate eaters even have lower rates of depression than the general public!

Chocolate also gives many of the known benefits of coffee because it contains trace mounts of caffeine as well as larger amounts of theobromine, a byproduct of caffeine metabolism. So, when you break off a piece of your favorite dark chocolate, you’re getting all of the antioxidant and heart-protective power of chocolate along with some of the alertness and anti-carcinogenic powers of caffeine.

At Chocovivo, we only serve dark chocolate with no added binding agents- which means our chocolate is purer and better for your body. And, because we serve both chocolate and coffee, you can get the health benefits, mood boost, and increased alertness of coffee and chocolate all in one place!

Coffee and Chocolate have a lot in common and when specialty coffee shop House Roots Coffee in the San Fernando Valley heard about our Cacao Bitters they thought it would work perfectly with the coffee and tea mocktail program that they were working on (read about House Roots' mocktails in Food & Wine).

In the Blood Orange Espresso Old Fashioned, the espresso (replacing the bourbon in the traditional Old Fashioned) really gives the drink a complex flavor profile and the addition of the Cacao Bitters along with the blood orange juice accentuate that. Our Cherries Almonds Black Peppercorns bar really paired well with this delicious drink.

The Blood Orange Tea Manhattan is made with a fruity caffeine free tea and the addition of our Cacao Bitters gave the drink a nice subtle chocolate tone. Very refreshing and sure to be a favorite on the upcoming menu.

The evening was very well received. All who attended had an enjoyable time and several commented that they had a new appreciation for pure, minimally processed, and minimal ingredient chocolates.

These drinks will be part of the specialty evening drinks menu that they are going to introduce later this month. If you are in The Valley and looking for a great cup of coffee or an espresso any time of day, or a special chocolate inspired mocktail later in the day, please be sure to check out the folks at House Roots. We look forward to doing more with them in the future.

Hi everyone and welcome to my Chilean travel series! My name is Alexandra, and I am ChocoVivo’s Chocolate Ambassador. I’m so excited to share my trip, and pass along some tips in case you plan to travel soon or just want to add a little Chilean spice to your life! I highly recommend Chile to anyone who craves untouched nature and has an appreciation for the medicinal, nourishing qualities of fresh local vegetation…. That’s all of us, right?

This whole idea began when one of my closest friends invited me to his brother’s wedding in Santiago. As someone who NEVER passes up an opportunity to experience a foreign culture with locals, I jumped at the chance! Armed with a suitcase full of ChocoVivo to get me through it, I took off on my two-week adventure.

Itinerary:

As you can see, Chile may be narrow, but it is crazy long. Stretching north to south 2,647 miles, trying to see everything in two weeks is like trying to see all of the United States. So it’s best to focus on a few places!

Originally we had planned to go to Torres del Paine. However, due to the commitments we had in Santiago, we decided to split our trip into four regions: Santiago/ Vineyards, Lake District, Valparaiso.

Santiago:

After 15 hours of travel to Santiago we arrived exhausted! The first thing I noticed about Chile was the lack of coffee culture. It seemed cafés serving espresso-style drinks were limited to tourist areas. Coffee, like cacao only grows between the tropics…. far away from Santiago. So instead of hunting down my americano, I decided to go cold turkey off coffee, and give into the Chilean tradition of herbal teas.

To supplement my energy slump, I used ChocoVivo Cacao nibs mixed into hotel breakfasts. Throwing them into oats with fresh berries was the best way to start a long, busy day.

In season strawberries, the perfect complement to cacao

View from the top of the hill Santa Lucia overlooking Santiago

Shopping at Fundación Artesanías de Chile

A beautifully curated selection of home goods, clothing, and pottery Fundación Artesanias is a must see! With locations throughout Chile, all proceeds go directly to the artisans.

Fresh in season produce at every corner

Lucuma Ice Cream Bar

Lucuma is a fruit that grows in northern Chile, in the Andean valley near Peru. It is a popular ice cream flavor, usually paired with chocolate or “manjar”, the Chilean name for dulce de leche. The taste of lucuma is very sweet, almost like caramel or maple syrup.

For centuries lucuma has been used as a medicinal superfood by the indigenous people of northern Chile and Peru. In its raw form, it has many health benefits including high amounts of beta-carotene, iron, calcium, and protein. The oil of lucuma can also be used to treat skin conditions and is excellent for hair!

Colorful Streets of bohemian barrio Bellavista

Enjoying a pisco sour and incredible ceviche at Santa Colonia

One of the most hotly debated topics in Chile is who created the pisco sour. Peruvians also claim this delicious drink and both countries have their own variation. For those unfamiliar with pisco, it is a brandy distilled from grapes. Below is a recipe for the Chilean version made with ChocoVivo Cacao Bitters. Usually this recipe is made with simple syrup, however I modified it to use honey after having a honey variation in southern Chile.

ChocoVivo Pisco Sour Recipe

Yields: 1

Ingredients:

2.5 ounces pisco*

1 egg white

1/2 tablespoon honey

3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

ChocoVivo Cacao Bitters

Preparation:

Mix pisco, egg white, honey, and lemon in a martini shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously for 15 seconds. Pour into glass. Top with a few drops of ChocoVivo Cacao Bitters.

What to Pack:

December is the height of summer in Chile, and we arrived during a record heat wave. Then on our last day it was raining and cold. If you’re staying in Santiago during the summer expect temperatures ranging from the low 50s to high 90s and possible rain.

Light layers for chilly nights or rain

Walking shoes

Dresses or Shorts

Sunscreen!!

Follow along for the next part of the series, as we pair ChocoVivo bars with Chilean wine!